In Your Town for March 9, 2023
NOVATO
School board OKs
superintendent pick
The Novato Unified School District board unanimously approved a three-year contract for a new superintendent on Tuesday.
Tracy Smith, a former Marin educator and current superintendent at Rincon Valley Union School District in Santa Rosa, will start her new job July 1. She will earn a base salary of $280,000.
Smith, a Novato resident, will succeed Jan LaTorre-Derby, a former Novato schools superintendent who came out of retirement to serve in the post for two years.
Smith has a doctorate in education from Brandman University and a master’s degree in educational leadership and administration from St. Mary’s College in Moraga. She also holds certification as a dual language teacher, teaching Spanish to English speakers and English to Spanish teachers.
Crash damages
utility pole
An overnight crash damaged a power pole on Alameda del Prado, closing the road in both directions near Cielo Lane, police said.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crews worked on repairs Wednesday. Police said the road would remained through the day.
Elsewhere in the city, police closed Marin Valley Drive and asked residents on Green Oak Drive to stay inside after a gas leak was reported. The stay-inside order was lifted and the road was reopened at 6:45 a.m.
SAN RAFAEL
Police respond to
DUI rollover crash
Francisco Boulevard East in San Rafael was briefly closed in both directions near Hoag Drive after a suspected DUI rollover crash, according to city police.
The crash was first reported around noon, police Sgt. Justin Graham said in a video posted to the department’s Facebook page.
The driver was arrested in the 100 block of Canal Street. No injuries were reported.
The road reopened around 12:40 p.m.
WEATHER
Storm to hit
late Thursday
The ‘atmospheric river’ storm steaming toward Northern California from Hawaii is likely to bring the wettest conditions the Bay Area has seen in two months.
The storm is on track to hit the North Bay by mid-morning Thursday, with the heaviest winds, rainfall amounts and disruption — from power outages to flooded roadways — on Thursday night into Friday morning, forecasters said late Wednesday.
The storm is expected to be a category 3 atmospheric river event on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest, according to scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.
On Thursday and Thursday night, the county is expected to take in between 2 and 4 inches, with 6 to 8 inches possible on the mountain, according to the National Weather Service.
A flood watch will take effect from Thursday afternoon through Sunday morning. Rivers, creeks and streams are likely to rise rapidly, and urban areas and low-water crossings may flood, according to the NWS.
The county will be under a wind advisory from 1 p.m. Thursday until 4 p.m. Friday, with 20- to 30-mph sustained winds and gusts as high as 50 mph, according to the NWS. Gusts at the top of the mountain may hit 60 mph.
The county got some rain overnight Tuesday — 0.24 inches in Kentfield, 0.23 inches in Point Reyes Station and 0.28 inches at the top of Mount Tamalpais, according to NWS.
— Bay Area News Group contributed to this report